Green Dreams Organic Farming in East Africa

When I started this blog, I explained I was an absolute rookie to all things blogging. Today on showing Dominic the blog he reminded me to give an explanation on the dates on the first pictures. Actually, Wakio would be best to explain as she took the first pictures…………..It goes a bit like this……..we didn’t know how to adjust the date on the camera for a few weeks thus all the first pics are dated 2004!!

It really didn’t take 4 years to get this project off the ground though imagine if we took on a dump site the size of Dandora it just might!!

Happy reading………..:)

Su x

The Kibera Youth Reform Group transformed this garbage site

to this lush organic plot!!

105 days from start to harvest!!

The Kibera Youth Reform Organic Farm originally a 3 meter deep garbage dump, is finally only days away from harvest!! The transformation which started in April 2008 has taken a mere three and a half months, prooving anything is possible.
In April, Claire Niala came to me with a proposition. The Kibera Youth Reform Group, a group comprising 70 girls and guys in Kibera who had decided to change their ways of crime, requested assistance with an idea they had. They wished to transform a garbage site into a farm, growing crops for their own consumption as well as for sale if possible.

To begin with, I needed to see the area in question and my friend Wakio Seaforth went into Kibera with Mr Saidi one of the representatives of the group. She returned with the following pictures

From then until now the youth have worked at a terriffic pace to make their dreams come true. Assisted by Dominic Wanjihia who trained them in setting up their drip irrigation system, Johara who arranged the soil tests, Zak who assisted in the early days, Claire who made the connections, raised finance and guided the group with their finances and myself…mainly co-ordinating, planning and advising, the following pictures are a testimony to the youth groups hard work and success.

Dominic always impresses me. No two things are done the same way if he has anything to do with it.
We are growing sunflowers between the veg as part of an experimental solution to cleaning the soil. Rather than the usual stoop and plant , Dom designed an easy planting tool, a plastic hallow pipe with recycled yoghurt pot tied to the top and a stick tied to the bottom. Without stooping all you have to do is jab the stick into the ground to make a hole, take a couple of seed from the pot and drop them down the pipe Done! No back ache farming!

The guys and gals in the youth group are almost fully fledged farmers.

The seedlings are almost ready. What a transformation!! The photos were taken on the 9th of June exactly two months from the date the Youth Reform boys and girls started to clear the dump site. We still have issues with the soil test and will try to intercrop plants that will extract the heavy metals, with food plants. When the crops and extraction plants are mature we will test them to see the effects. Hopefully the food crops will be ok?

Limuru Agricultural Youth Center is located about 30 km outside of Nairobi, in the beautiful highlands of Tigoni. It is roughly 4 km from the ex Green Dreams farm and sits on 40 lush acres of fantastic farming territory. The center is a haven for young agricultural students from all over Kenya. Most of the students have excelled in agriculture in their local districts however are unable to afford a higher education in this field. The center was founded to fill this niche starting off 40 years ago with 45 students growing forty years on to teaching 200 students annually.

The school curriculum teaches mainly conventional farming practices. After visiting a few times last year as well as hosting students on the Green Dreams farm during their practical attachment time, and recognising the huge potential for organic production, I spoke with the Principle Mr Henry Kirii and asked him if we could assist with adding an organic component to the center. Henry was ecstatic at the idea as he has a passion for organic and is a regular reader of our magazine The Organic Farmer.

As we walked around the school premises I realised the potential for not only teaching our future agriculturalists organic farming methods, but also how to use affordable appropriate technologies, how to develop their entreprenuerial skills, and also how to assist with income generation for the school via sales of their organic products.

Asides from the land allocated to crop production,the center also has a small dairy herd, a rabbit breeding section,a bio gas plant (the second ‘functional’ one I have seen in the country), a piggery (organic bacon :))(sp),ample water, incredibly willing and dedicated staff and 80 permanent students (which I relate to 80 managers………all managing their own plots)

As we closed down the Green Dreams farm, we donated drip irrigation and water tanks to the school as well as 6 Toggenberg dairy goats. We will now help the school utilise these assets in their organic section and will support them with markets for their products. The project is already underway as I write. Stay posted!

The soil tests were abysmal. Two samples were taken each representing half of the field. The field was transected into two halves, A and B. Then using a zig zag pattern, 30 soil samples from a depth of 30 cm were collected from each side. These samples were put into 2 especially designated bags and shaken. A single sample was then taken from each bag and taken to the labs. (We used this method as soil testing is hugely expensive. Thankfully the lab did our tests for free though they would have cost $125.00

The results can be seen on the attachment.soil-tests-kibera

The picture shows the clear separation between two soil types. The grey soil (closest) was brought in a year ago from a construction site.You can also see the office block at the far end and the area of space beside it just at the end of our planting beds, designated to be a community center.

Our samples were high in Zinc, Boron, Copper and Lead!! The sample that had the largest portion of the ‘construction site soil’ was the worst. The other sample wasn’t as bad but was still a little alarming.
I feel the contamination in the second sample was from the ‘construction site soil’ which due to the method we used in collecting the soil samples was in a lower percentage. I’m hoping that this is the case and to try to prove this we are now doing another test on the red soil area.

We have consulted with a few experts on how to decontaminate the soil, Anne Bruntse has advised us to grow sunflowers and indian mustard for a season, and then to destroy the crop………somehow…..
I will discuss further with her today over lunch…….

Our options are 1) To remove the soil 2) To redesign the plot and plonk the community center on the bad soil which will allow us to use their good soil for the farm. 3) To grow sunflowers and indian mustard. The problem here is these plants will be consumed as we are in the slums. It would look beautiful but would be dangerous.

I think we will probably go with relocating the community center and growing right up to the office block. It will mean rethinking the seed bed area, which ironically is already where we would need it if we have to change! So on the positive side of things, we are actually ahead of schedule

Meanwhile we have all learnt something new……..sunflowers and indian mustard extract lead and zinc from the soils!

Fingers crossed that the new test will come out in our favour!!

The guys on the ground who are relentlessly transfoming this dump site in Kibera into an organic farm.

Pic 1 Zakayo Simel, husband to Kendi (both working for Green Dreams Ltd) parents of beautiful Vanessa (3yrs).

In 2005 twelve of the employees at Green Dreams were couples!!! Zak who was in charge of deliveries met Kendi who was working on the farm side of the operations. They fell in love and the rest is history! Zak is soon to be in charge of our local sales distribution and expansion and Kendi currently runs The Organic Shop, almost single handedly and very competently. As the expansion plans are being drafted, he is working in the field, teaching and aiding the Kibera Youth Reform group set up their organic farm.
Zak is also keeping a photo log, we shall have him blogging soon.
The second picture is Mohamed, his t.shirts tells us he is a devote Arsenal fan! You can hear Mohamed on the earlier posted pod cast talking on behalf of the youth group and their endeavour to leave their ways of drugs and crime.
The geese in the photo are pretending to be cool and friendly.

Today the children of our organic farm had their first lesson in planting as the adults watched and learned through their childrens mistakes. We planted quite a variety of crops, some of those we had seen growing in the site as opportunistic plants, pumpkin, aubergine, amaranthus and others, cabbage, kales.

The kids were great. We had them demonstrate what they knew. One little fellow poured half a pack of seed into a hole whilst another made a row of holes and poured slightly less into each. It was interesting watching the swift changes in behaviour that came about with a little instruction from Zak.

The seed beds were prepared in blue crates, recycled from a Dutch importer of strawberry plants. Mohamed and Zak had selected the most appropriate soil from the location, finding red soil where most of the earth is grey black cotton like clay. The soil was alive with earth worms which is always a good sign!

We had 6 crates lined up very smartly, with children decorating the fringes, sticks in hand drawing drill lines for the seed.

As the earth in the crates was a little too damp thus clumpy and sticky, it wasn’t long before the kids found their fingers worked better than the sticks. They were so cute, working ever so diligently as they sprinkled the seed along their drill lines, often ending up with a mass of seed stuck to the end of their fingers.

The children were told to look after thier seeds and to check in on them every so often to make sure they didn’t dry out. They were buzzing with excitement which Joshua (My 15yr old nephew……..le journalist extrodinaire) managed to capture on tape as they giggled, sang, rapped and took over the show.

We were quite a contingent, Paula my sister, Joshua her son,Wakio our friend, Claire the special girl who brought us to this project, Dino -Kenyas David Attenborough and Zak my eyes and ears in the field. Dino spent the entire time scounting the site for insects, coming up with an incredible assortment ranging from butterflies to dragon flies, both good indicators of a balancing ecosystem. Joshua spent his time interviewing everyone like a true professional, hopefully we will have some of these recordings posted as a podcast in the near future……………………..when I figure out how to do it!! Both Paula and Dino took many photographs that we will have to post in an online album too…..again, when I figure out how to do it.

Technorati : Africas largest slum, David Attenborough, Dino, Kibera, Organic, Paula, Seed, butterflies, dragon flies, garbage site reclamation, organic farming

As I hit the tracks, I lost sight of the chaos on the hill, the sounds of children shrieking and the sweet smell of rotting garbage, shrouded in the acrid smoke of burning banana skins. The scent of my flesh scorched on the hot tracks , sizzling beneath me. I lay limbless now, my skin drying as the merciless sun rays vaporised my being towards the heavens , juices oozing from my lacerated body, attracting carnivorous ants from miles away. What on earth and in hell had I done to deserve this torture metted out by an ignorant child, ignorant to the value of my being, ignorant to the need for us to exist together.

We live in Kibera. We thrive in Kibera. We are ignored and abused in Kibera.

The silver sunrays baked the mud that housed us, radiating a warm glow through our bodies, slowly drawing the night chill upwards and away. Drawing with it moisture from the depths and encouraging a flurry of activity of all those around, resulting in an everincreasing sweet stench to fill the pockets of icy night air. The land was still. Our land was good. Our land was fertile, we kept it this way. We encouraged the growth of crops we did not eat, but took pleasure in feeding. We defecated tirelessly, endlessly. We fornicated often, polygamously, under cover, privately. Our population increasing by the day in this slum, the biggest in Africa. Surviving as scavengers, our children merrily wandering through the piles of garbage, oblivious to the dangers of suffocation, the threat of playing or feeding too close to plastic bags. Oblivious of dangers of vermin, rodents and children.

The quake was sudden! As most quakes are! The ground ripped from around us, under us, and turned above. The worst quake ever felt in Kibera. Bodies were severed. Body parts writhing in the glistening sodden mud, chaos all around. WHAT THE……..!!!!!

Shards of bright light forced us to cringe and seek escape. Disoriented by the sounds of ripping earth and foreign voices, we tried to tunnel downwards , upwards, anywards, desperately trying to survive, to escape from the unfolding hell that surrounded us.

Hours later, in the calm, I lay in a strange stillness. My body unscathed. All in one piece. How had I survived, Why? Where were the others? The moist walls around me reminding me I was still underground. Sickly sweet rotting fruit drizzling over my body, marinating me slowly. Tantalizing me and tempting me to reach out and take a mouthful. I was starving. Just a bite. It was good. It went through my system in no time. I felt I could eat my way through this icky rotting mass if I had to.I began to regain my strength, and decided to squirm through the debris searching for my family. Where were they. My world seemed upside down. The sky, blue as ever lay beneath me. The sun threatening from above. Was I hallucinating? Was it something I had eaten.

And then suddenly, the chaos started again. A second quake, bigger than the first tore through my universe, exposing me to the world around. In seconds the sound was unbearable!! My body gripped at the waist line, tighter and tighter until I was sure to black out as I was lifted from mother earth, strangled, squeezed. I recall urinating, not in fear, but by force. Gasping for air I was suddenly surrounded by it, as I took flight.

Was this a dream? I was flying!!

Green meadows swirling below me. Silence filling the air with every second. Was this for real? Was it something I’d eaten?

I tried to look down my flight path. Everyone was staring.

Someone was shouting “Snake!!”

Snake??!!!Geepers, where??? From my vantage point I couldn’t see one!!

Su was shouting. “Hey!! Wewe!! Kwanini wewe ame fanya hiyo? Hawa ni rafiki yako. Ni mzuri”

(Hey , why did you do that? They are your friends!!)

The little boy looked on puzzled. He raised his soily hands in confusion.What was going on? What had she said? What language was she speaking? He had saved the crowd from the snake hadn’t he?

Instinctively recognising the confusion, Dino Martins (our superman!!) came to the rescue of all and translated in perfect swahili “Don’t harm the earthworms, they are very good for the soil, they are our friends”

They are very good for the soil??I knew that all along……………….Is this what you do to friends?????

As my soft body lay on the searing rail tracks, I hoped that the sacrifice of my life, collateral damage, would be a lesson to the future farmers in Kibera. We need each other.

(The story of an earth worm, captured and put into a blue crate to be shown as an example to the children of Kibera. One child however,on seeing the worm grabbed it and flung it over the edge onto the railway track.)

Technorati : Africas’ biggests slum, Dino Martins, Kibera, Vermiculture, earthworms